Apps That Might Persuade You to Switch to Android

When it comes to developing apps, the iPhone is usually the first option. Look at apps like Instagram, which was exclusive to the iPhone for an extended period of time before landing on Android.

But there are plenty of reasons to want to go with an Android phone.

But Android phones open up a different kind of tool set for developers to tinker with, and as a result you end up with apps that usually have more functionality than the iPhone allows.

For example, you can tinker with the keyboard when it comes to Android smartphones, but not the iPhone. As a result, the most popular app on Android devices ends up being a productivity app that upgrades the keyboard.

And then there’s the benefit of being on Google’s ecosystem — and often having first access to Google’s most powerful apps, like Maps, before the iPhone.

If you’re at least interested in picking up an Android smartphone, here are a few apps to check out while still on the fence as to which device to pick:

Facebook Messenger. While Facebook Messenger is available on the iPhone, the Android version is able to tap into your phone’s texting capabilities, turning it into a de-facto replacement for your text messaging system. So you have your Facebook messages and text messages in a single inbox, which further unifies your communications stream.

Swiftkey. If there’s one app that will make you wish you had an Android phone, it’s a productivity app called Swiftkey. This app connects to a number of your web accounts like Gmail and Facebook, and modifies your keyboard to predict words that you will type next based on your typing history. It also turns your keyboard into a virtual heat map, so regardless of how sloppily you type, Swiftkey will know what you’re trying to type.

Battery Defender and TaskKiller. For performance nuts, Android is the best platform for optimizing the capabilities of your smartphone. You can do that with apps like Battery Defender, which helps maximize your battery life, and TaskKiller, which helps you kill off unnecessary programs that are running in the background.

WiFi Analyzer. An app that helps you analyze the most crowded “channels” when it comes to setting up your WiFi network. For best performance, you’ll want to set up a network in the least-crowded channel.

Plume. Plume is a Twitter client that, like other Android apps, is highly customizable, down to the font size and the color of your Twitter timeline.

Google Music. You can store your music in Google’s cloud services and access it from anywhere. While there are a few iPhone apps that give you some access to that service, the native Google Music app is straight from the source.

Other new Google apps. As Google continues to release new apps, the company has a history of launching them first on Android phones — at least with greater functionality. For example, the Google Maps app for most of the iPhone’s lifetime was superior on Android, until the company updated its iPhone app.

Flash. At least for the time being, Android still has some support for Flash, and much of the interactive web is still built on the ages-old architecture. This likely won’t be the case for much longer as many new web apps are built in HTML5 (which the iPhone supports) — or are being shifted to native apps.

Third-Party Stores. The other benefit of being on Android is there are lots of third-party stores outside of the Google Play android store. Amazon has an Android app store, as well as some lesser-known third-party stores like GetJar.